Thursday, March 27, 2014

In 1993 the
United Nations declared March 22nd as World Water Day to highlight
the importance of water and to advocate for the sustainable management of water
resources.

Did you
know:

1 in 10 people lack sufficient access to water

1 in 3 people lack sufficient access to sanitation

1.5 million children die from a lack of clean water and
safe sanitation every year

It’s hard to
imagine that in 2014 that there is still a struggle to provide clean, safe
water supplies to people around the world.World Water Day is behind us, but you can act every day in your
household and community to protect and conserve all sources of water, including
groundwater.The Groundwater
Foundation’s mission is to educate people and inspire action to ensure
sustainable clean groundwater for future generations.Check out The Groundwater Foundation’s
website to learn how you can help protect the world’s water!www.groundwater.org/action/

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

The faucet has been
leaking for a while now and you just haven’t had a chance to fix it.Sound familiar?A little drip here or there is easily
ignored.Not a big deal, right?WRONG!That little drip combined with thousands of other little drips add up to
be a lot of wasted water. For example, a leaky faucet that drips at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons per year. That's the amount of water needed to take more than 180 showers!

This week, March 17-23,
is National Fix A Leak Week!This is the
perfect time to check around your home for a potential leak.It may be coming from a faucet, a shower
head, or even your toilet.So become a
detective this week, find those leaks and get them fixed.Not only will it save water, it will save you
money.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Since March 9-15 is National Groundwater Awareness Week,
this week’s blog post is dedicated to ideas for spreading groundwater awareness
in your community!
One of the best ways to spread groundwater awareness in your
community is to educate your family, friends, and neighbors about the water we
rely on every day! Below is a list of community project ideas to help teach
others about groundwater and ways they can protect it.

Groundwater Basics:

·Lead a groundwater education campaign.Activities could include: hosting or
presenting a groundwater 101 lecture, creating and distributing educational
materials throughout the community, writing a letter to the editor of your
local newspaper, or writing and recording a public service announcement for a
local radio station.

·Hold a mini-groundwater festival for local
residents. Form teams to demonstrate groundwater concepts through hands-on
activities. For activity ideas, visit the Try This! and Girl
Scout Resources sections on our website.

·Host a Test Your Well event in your
community.This event allows well owners
to have their water screened for common contaminants such as nitrates and
offers opportunities to raise awareness on pollution prevention.

Water Conservation
and Pollution Prevention:

·Design and install a rain garden for your school
or other community spaces to capture rain water and reduce storm water
pollution. For more information about installing a rain garden, visit the All About Rain
Gardens section of our website.

·Share water conservation and pollution
prevention messages that encourage the protection of groundwater supplies.Examples could include performing a play or
writing a story about the importance of protecting groundwater supplies. Click here
for an example of a story!

·Get permission from the city to stencil messages
on storm drains to help prevent chemicals and oil from being dumped down
them.These chemicals pollute both
surface and groundwater and are dangerous to aquatic plants and animals.

Image
credit: epa.gov

Creating long-lasting groundwater awareness and protection efforts:

The Groundwater Foundation has some great programs that help
communities continue their groundwater awareness and protection efforts. Click
on the links below to learn more about becoming a Groundwater Guardian or
getting your green space involved in Groundwater Guardian Green Sites!

Thursday, March 6, 2014

The Groundwater
Foundation uses US Geological Survey (USGS) publications and data on an ongoing
basis to ensure the information delivered to you is scientifically
accurate.Do you use USGS products and
materials?If so, we want to know how –
take this short survey and tell us.The
survey will only take a few minutes to complete and will help us to understand
the need for these types of scientific data.

If you are not familiar
with USGS, check it out here.I know you
will find many items of interest.Happy
reading!